This APPLN. is a 371 of PCT/FR97/01309 filed Jul. 15, 1997
The present invention relates to the production of natural diols and to their applications.
The apple is an agricultural product whose economic importance justifies the studies that are devoted to it. It is in fact a fruit of everyday consumption for the eating market but also an industrial fruit which is important to the food processing industry since it forms the basis of numerous products, such as fruit juices, fruit preparations intended for other industries, compotes and jams, or else drinks with a low alcohol level, such as traditional ciders.
Numerous studies have been devoted to the flavor of the apple, and have enabled more than 350 volatile compounds to be identified (Berger et al., 1988), including some which make an important contribution to the overall sensorial properties of the apple. Among such compounds, the C6 aldehydes such as cis-3-hexenal and trans-2-hexenal, the corresponding alcohols, certain esters, such as ethyl butyrate and ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, or xcex2-damascenone, have an essential role (Belitz, 1992; Dxc3xcrr et al., 1981).
In the course of these studies, the structure of two volatile compounds which are found in fairly significant amounts in certain varieties of apple has been elucidated, these being two homologous C8 diols: octane-1,3-diol and cis-oct-5-ene-1,3-diol, of formulae A and B: 